


Gather Near to Us Once More

by Emiline



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Algernon Rowan-Webb - Freeform, Gen, Gwen Bat - Freeform, Memories, Slice of Life, The Worst Witch Winter Warmers 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emiline/pseuds/Emiline
Summary: In which Maud tells her granddaughter a little bit about Miss Bat and Mr Rowan-Webb.For the 2020 Worst Witch Winter Warmers: old memories/remembrances prompt.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: The Worst Witch Winter Warmers 2020





	Gather Near to Us Once More

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

“Grandma Maud, who’s that?” Stacey asked, pointing to the photograph of an elderly couple cooing over a baby.

Maud pushed her glasses back into place and peered at the album. “Why, that’s Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Algie, with your mum,” she replied, smiling fondly.

“Are they my great-grandparents?”

“In a way,” Maud’s finger hovered over the edge of the photo. “Or maybe your great-great-grandparents.” 

Stacey turned an inquisitive face towards Maud.

“When I was little girl,” Maud began, “just a bit older than you are now, they were my teachers at Cackle’s Academy.”

“You must have gone there a _really_ long time ago,” Stacey said in wonder.

“Well,” Maud laughed, “I did, but not quite as long ago as all that. Miss Bat—Grandma Gwen that is, and Grandpa Algie, who wasn’t Grandpa Algie then but Mr. Rowan-Webb, were already pretty old when I was a student. In fact, Grandma Gwen had taught _my_ mum when she was at school.”

“Woah.”

“They were dear, charming people, if a little eccentric - Grandpa Algie spent thirty years as a frog you know, because of a terrible thing another teacher had done to him and he had a tendency to snack on flies ever after, once he was turned back into a person, and Grandma Gwen, well—“, Maud smiled, looking back into years long gone, “ she was always a character. But they were some of the kindest people I have ever known.”

“He was a frog?” Stacey gasped.

Maud nodded. “Ask Grandma Millie about it sometime. She’s the one who figured out where he was and got him turned back.”

“Can we go to Grandma Millie’s right now?”

“No dear, it’s far too late. But tomorrow, at a reasonable hour, we can mirror her and see if we can come over.”

“What’s a reasonable hour?”

“Not before nine in the morning,”

“Nine?”

“Yes,” Maud said firmly.

“But—“

“But nothing.”

Stacey sighed. 

“However,” Maud said, “if you go run along and get ready for bed I’ll show you something of Grandma Gwen’s tonight.”

“Oh please can I see it now?”

“Pajamas and teeth brushing first.”

“Pleeeeeaaaaseee?”

Maud gave her a look.

“Okay, okay, I’m going.”

* * *

“What is it?” Stacey asked, vibrating with excitement.

“Grandma Gwen had a secret identity,” Maud disclosed, and Stacey’s eyes grew as wide as saucers.

“Really?” Stacey breathed.

Maud nodded solemnly. “Besides being a teacher she was a very famous singer named Esper Vespertillio, and this—“ she held up a record in a sleeve, “is a recording of her.”

* * *

“That was so cool! I want to do that!”

“It takes a lot of study and practice, but there’s certainly no reason why you couldn’t. Now it’s bedtime, dearest.”

“I couldn’t possibly go to bed now.”

“Of course you can. You want to be ready to go to Grandma Millie’s tomorrow don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, the sooner you go to sleep the sooner tomorrow will come.”

* * *

Maud returned the record to its place, her fingers lingering against the cardboard. Then she pulled down a box from another shelf. She settled into her favorite chair, opened the box and pulled out a stack of letters. She selected the bottom-most one and unfolded it carefully so as not to rip it along the much folded creases. Gwen and Algie smiled out at her from in front of a cabin made white with snow. Their own little winter wonderland. Maud set the picture aside, blew her nose, and focused on the dear, familiar quill-strokes.

_Dear Maud,_

_After our weeks in Germany we have settled on a charming cottage just outside of Zurich for the holidays, where as it happens Algie ran into an old friend of his from university…_


End file.
